Former Criticality Experiment Lab demolished
Environmental management workers have cleared another contaminated facility, opening land for reuse at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
They successfully demolished the former Criticality Experiment Laboratory after working over the summer to bring down the dilapidated 1940s-era facility, also known as Building 9213.
“Removal of this facility is another sign of our steady progress transforming DOE’s Oak Ridge Reservation,” Laura Wilkerson, acting manager for the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (EM) stated in a news release.
More than 50% of the facilities throughout the National Nuclear Security Administration complex, which includes Y-12, are more than 40 years old. The Criticality Experiment Laboratory is one of them.
Built in 1949, the two-story, 24,000-square-foot laboratory was used to conduct experiments with fissile uranium isotopes for nuclear reactor designs. Employees performed more than 9,700 experiments there in its first decade, and the facility later supported the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) program.
The building has been closed since 1992.
Crews are now working to remove waste and debris. It's expected that they'll move about 525 truckloads of it in the coming weeks.
Workers spent what was described in the release as "significant time" deactivating the facility before the demolition. They removed nearly 1,500 linear feet of asbestos-insulated piping, 300 linear feet of process piping and 8,500 square feet of other asbestos-containing material.
“Our team continues to complete this mission-critical work in the safest possible manner. In a recent survey, our workers shared that doing this work to clean up the environment for the future keeps them motivated,” said UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter. “They think it is important and rewarding, and so do I. We are proud of our part in advancing the science and national security missions performed here in Oak Ridge.”
EM crews are also preparing three large former uranium enrichment facilities for demolition at Y-12, including Alpha-2, Alpha-4 and Beta-1.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Former Criticality Experiment Lab demolished
